With new hospital comes new name

When its doors open next October, the new hospital comes with a new name: Allen County Regional Hospital.
That was the consensus Tuesday night by hospital trustees after a lengthy discussion led by Cindy Parks, a marketing professional from Leawood.
Trustees bantered about other names including Allen Hospital, Allen County Regional Medical Center, Allen Medical Center, but in the end decided adding the word “regional” to its current name imparts a realistic picture of what the hospital is and what it can be in terms of potential growth.
Trustees voted to retain Parks to help in marketing the hospital. Working in concert with her will be Clifton Alexander of Reactor Design Studio who will help trustees come up with a logo and marketing text and graphics. Alexander has been in the business for 10 years in Kansas City. His clients include Commerce Bank, the Stowers Institute, Microsoft and Hallmark.
Parks has been involved with helping Allen County Hospital promote itself for many years through various ad campaigns.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION was given to Delma Rourk and her children Larry and Debbie, in honor of Delma’s cousin, Delores Johnson, and her gift of $325,000 to the hospital several years ago. The gift equipped and renovated an imaging center. The equipment will be moved to the new hospital once it is completed. Johnson made the gift to the hospital in memory of her parents, Inar and Millie Johnson, who were originally from the Iola area.
Inar Johnson was a farmer who headed west to California and became a successful lumberman. Delores Johnson became a vice president of a bank in Fresno, Calif. In addition to her “wise investments,” and what she inherited from her parents, Delores Johnson was able to make the generous gift to the hospital, said Debbie Rourk. A picture of Delores Johnson and her parents hangs in the hallway outside of the current imaging center.

RON BAKER, the hospital’s new chief executive officer, was introduced to board members.
“My head is still spinning,” Baker said of his new job. “We’ve got a huge task ahead of us. I’m looking forward to getting things running.”
Members approved the payment of $1,162,306 to Murray Company, the construction project management firm. Construction remains on target.